Plans by golfer Nick Faldo to turn the Co Mayo island he bought last week into "the best and most unique golf links in the world" could have a serious impact on the island's status as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds, according to An Taisce.
Faldo, the winner of six major championships and three Irish Opens, bought the 357-acre Bartragh Island near Killala by tender, six years after his first visit there which left him "immediately captivated".
Bartragh nestles in Killala Bay and is bordered by the salmon-filled Moy river. Considered one of the most unspoilt areas in the country, the island is largely made up of undisturbed dune landscape, with about 60 acres of grazing and agricultural land and extensive beaches. Brent geese are said to visit Killala Bay in internationally important numbers during the winter.
"To say the island is of ecological significance is an understatement," said Mr Ian Lumley, heritage officer of An Taisce. "There is a serious question as to whether any development is appropriate on the island. We are already well served in terms of coastal links courses."
Environmentalists have also expressed concern that the golf course could spawn a range of ancillary developments normally associated with courses, including a car-park, clubhouse and perhaps eventually a hotel and golf homes. A bridge may also be necessary to get to the island, which is currently accessible by boat from Ballina or Killala and by foot from Killala at low tide.
The chairman of the Independent Farmers' Federation, Mr Vincent Maloney, who lives in Enniscrone, across the bay from Bartragh, has said the proposed development on the island "must be resisted with every possible commitment."
However, Nick Faldo says he is well aware of the area's special ecological status, and the golf course will be "handcrafted" in a return to how courses were created long ago.
He has expressed an interest in restoring the 5,000 sq ft Bartragh House which is currently in a state of disrepair and says his plans are "low-key and extremely sensitive to the environment" and will only be finalised after consultation with Mayo County Council and other interested groups locally.
He says it is his dream to visit the island regularly and "one day teach the local fishermen to play golf, and in return they can show me a few tricks of the trade." Faldo's main off-course activity is coarse fishing.
The sum paid for the island remains undisclosed, although the guide price quoted by auctioneer Helen Cassidy of Clonbur in Co Galway was €3.5 million.
The previous owner was a singer who returned to Ireland from London's West End and bought it for €300,000 in 1997.
